A contemporary marble statue of Cleopatra now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; she is identified by the cartouche inscribed on her upper right arm and the distinct triple uraeus on her diadem, a common characteristic of sculptural depictions of Cleopatra.[1]
The early life of Cleopatra VII of Ptolemaic Egypt covers the period from her birth in early 69 BC to her accession to the throne during or before March 51 BC. Cleopatra was the daughter of reigning pharaoh Ptolemy XII Auletes; the identity of her mother is disputed and is presumed to have been Cleopatra V or Cleopatra VI, who may have been the same person. During her early childhood, Cleopatra was brought up in the palace of Alexandria in Egypt and received a primarily Hellenistic Greek education. By adulthood she was well-versed in many languages, including Egyptian, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Arabic, Median, Parthian, Latin, and her native Koine Greek.
Cleopatra's father was a client ruler of the Roman Republic. When the Romans annexed Cyprus and Ptolemy XII's brother Ptolemy of Cyprus chose to commit suicide rather than go into exile, Ptolemy XII became unpopular with the masses in Egypt for offering no public reaction to the events. He and a daughter, ostensibly Cleopatra and not Arsinoe IV, were exiled from Egypt during a revolt. This allowed Cleopatra's older sister Berenice IV to claim the throne in 58 BC, ruling jointly with Cleopatra VI. Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra traveled to Roman Italy, staying outside Rome at the villa of their Roman patron, Pompey the Great. After Ptolemy XII orchestrated the assassinations of Berenice IV's diplomats in Rome, seeking to gain Roman favor, he and Cleopatra left the city's hostile environment and settled at Ephesus in Anatolia.
Pompey eventually convinced Aulus Gabinius, the Roman governor of Syria, to invade Egypt and restore Ptolemy XII to power. In the spring of 55 BC, Gabinius' army invaded. One of his officers, Mark Antony, prevented Ptolemy XII from massacring the inhabitants of Pelousion for their defiance, and rescued the body of Berenice's husband, Archelaos, after he was killed in battle. Although Antony said years later that it was then that he fell in love with Cleopatra, they did not begin an affair until 41 BC. Ptolemy XII made Cleopatra his regent and joint ruler in 52 BC, naming her and his son Ptolemy XIII joint successors in his will. Ptolemy XII died by 22 March 51 BC, the date of Cleopatra's first known act as queen: restoring the sacred Buchis bull in Hermonthis, Egypt. She may have married her brother, Ptolemy XIII, but it is uncertain if they married before engaging in open hostilities against one another in the Alexandrine war.
^Ashton 2001, p. 165.
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